


countdown confessional

by undercelestialstars



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: And in love, Fluff, Getting Together, Kinda...?, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Mutual Pining, but that's the background good kush, lucie feel better or else, lucie feel good challenge!!!, mostly just boys being dumb, o and mei, oh lan fan is lesbian, so is paninya, these dumb little men i love them, winry is also lesbian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:38:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undercelestialstars/pseuds/undercelestialstars
Summary: Lan Fan eyes him over her breakfast, spooning cereal into her mouth with murderous intent. “You didn't tell him,” she says flatly.“I don't know how to tell him!” Ling groans. “What am I supposed to do, walk up to him and say 'Ed, I love you,’?! I can't just do that!”Lan Fan looks him in the eye. “Why not?”Ling buries his face in his oatmeal and groans.(Ling loves Edward. He's not going to tell him, though- not without a little bit of pushing in the right direction.)





	countdown confessional

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noodlebunny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlebunny/gifts).



> for luce 'cause i dont know how to make people feel better but i do know how to write. i love you, lucie!

Lan Fan corners Ling in the afternoon, two days before they leave for the east, two days before they leave for Xing. There are bruises not yet healed on her face, and her tired eyes bore into his. The sorrow that comes with every time he looks at her hits him full force- that he could not protect her, that he could not protect Fu, that he could not be enough.

“Young Lord,” she says in her native Xingese, before her eyes soften. “Ling.”

“Lan Fan,” he greets, unsure of what to say. She has him crowded against their hotel room door, and Ling glances at the opposite wall, hoping that neither of the Elric brothers will come out of their room across the hall.

She catches the quick look, her gaze calculating. She meets his eyes adamantly, and he's a little worried.

“You love him,” she says simply. “That golden State Alchemist, Edward.” Ling's face is suddenly warm and blood-rushed, and he stammers out a couple excuses- _no, of course not, what-_ before quietly nodding his head.

She regards him all the while.

They stand in silence for minute, before Lan Fan scowls suddenly and punches him in the shoulder. He shouts in pain and rubs his arm, because she may have hit him with her flesh hand but god, that hand _hurt._

“What was that for?!” he whines.

“You idiot!” She berates him, eyes narrowed. “You're leaving Amestris, perhaps _for good_ , in two days time, and you have yet to tell him!”

She's always been insightful and it's times like these when Ling wishes that she wasn't.

“You don't know that!” He argues nonetheless. “Maybe I already told him and he rejected me. You don’t know that.” She leans her weight onto one leg and cocks an eyebrow at him. He cracks in less than four seconds. “Okay, you do know that. But he doesn't love me back.” She rolls her eyes. “He doesn’t!”

Insubordination, really. He's a _prince_ , for god's sake, and she's berating him like a child.

“I've been watching Edward Elric ever since I met him and that _boy_ has been pining after you perhaps even longer than you have been pining after him. He spent twenty-three uninterrupted seconds watching you serve yourself food at breakfast today, after which he leaned his head into his hand and gave the most ridiculous, lovestruck sigh I've ever heard. And I’ve seen how Mei Chang looks at these city girls.” Now, she casts a look over her shoulder, like she's finally worried that they might hear her. It's about time, really. If Edward were to exit his hotel room now Ling might just spontaneously combust.

The apocalypse and being possessed, he can survive. Love? Maybe not.

Lan Fan levels her gaze at him. “If you don't tell him, I will. Or maybe Alphonse will, because the _only people_ who haven't noticed you're both head over heels for each other are _yourselves_.”

With that, she turns around and _saunters_ down the hall, presumably to call Winry Rockbell again. Ling could probably turn the entire conversation on its head by cracking open that particular can of worms- that and Paninya- but he eyes the Elric's closed hotel door and he doesn't.

 

* * *

 

**Two days until Xing.**

 

Ling paces in his room, tugging at his hair.

“Edward, I know when we met I was passed out in an alleyway and then I tried to have you killed but that seems to be a recurring theme in your life so could we see each other as more than friends?”

His palm meets his forehead with a painful _smack,_ which he deserves because saying that would be at the peak of his most regrettable decisions. He takes a deep breath and starts again.

“Edward, I know that for the most of our time together I was possessed by the embodiment of a deadly sin but I was actually pretty aware of what was going on during that time so I was wondering if…”

“Edward, I know you still have an automail leg and that the only other way to get to Xing other than through the desert takes about four weeks but…”

“Edward, this may seem out of the blue, but...”

“Edward, I…”

“Edward…”

 

_Ed, I love you._

 

He goes to sleep wordless and frustrated.

 

* * *

**One (and a half) days until Xing.**

 

Lan Fan eyes him over her breakfast, spooning cereal into her mouth with murderous intent. He scratches at the back of his neck awkwardly, subconsciously running a finger over the thin scar there, from when he'd almost been assassinated at three years of age.

“You didn't tell him,” she says flatly. He sighs, shoves a spoonful of oats into his mouth as an excuse not to talk.

She steals his bowl.

“I don't know how to tell him!” Ling groans, grabbing at his food. “What am I supposed to do, walk up to him and say 'Ed, I love you,’?! I can't just do that!”

Lan Fan looks him in the eye. “Why not?”

Ling buries his face in his oatmeal and groans.

Her voice is gentle when she speaks again. “You don't have very long, Ling,” she reminds him. The sound of mismatched footsteps herald the arrival of Edward himself, and Ling sighs.

“I know,” he murmurs.

 

* * *

 Edward swans into his hotel room like he owns it after lunchtime. He takes over the bed, punches the pillow into shape and crosses his legs. Ling watches him from the couch.

“Your train comes 'round noon tomorrow, right?” Ed asks. Ling nods.

“It comes at 1,” he clarifies. Edward prods the small suitcase Ling had packed with his boot.

“Are you ready to leave?” He asks. _No,_ Ling wants to say. _I’ve got things I haven’t said. Things I haven’t said to you._

“Pretty much,” he answers instead. Edward goes silent and stares at the ceiling for such a long time, Ling glances up to see if there's anything interesting up there.

“I'll miss you,” Ed finally blurts, and Ling’s head snaps to look at him so fast it's embarrassing. Edward is flushed, red high on his cheekbones.

“Really?” Ling says, heart pounding. “I mean- I'm going to miss you too. But, you know, you're welcome to visit any time.” He stops, pitches his voice softer. “Visit _me_ anytime.”

 

Ling doesn't confess but Edward smiles so gently at him, a surprisingly shy thing, which means he's achieved something, no matter how small.

 

* * *

 Alphonse is usually holed up in his room, his fragile physical state keeping him mostly bed-bound (not to mention Edward’s consistent mother-henning,) so when the teen corners him in the evening Ling is a little surprised.

“Ling,” Alphonse says impatiently, and his voice is still the same. “Are you going to tell him?”

Ling looks away- Alphonse’s eyes are sunken and his face too thin, but his golden gaze is just as piercing as Edward’s. They have different eyes, Alphonse’s wider and darker in shade, but the resemblance is impossible to ignore.

One shaky, bony finger prods his chest. “If you don’t tell him, I will,” Alphonse threatens. Ling buries his head in his hands.

“Why does everyone want me to confess to Edward?!” he complains, and Alphonse laughs, a trembling but sun-bright thing.

“Because god knows he won’t,” Al says, “he’s more stubborn than all us combined.” His expressive eyes soften. “And my brother deserves a chance at happiness, Ling. He’s spent the last few years doing everything for me, and he deserves this.” He turns and heads back into his hotel room, but braces one hand against the doorframe before he enters. He turns back to Ling.

 

“You do, too.”

 

* * *

  **Half a day until Xing.**

 

Ling finds Ed after a nerve-wracking breakfast. Both Lan Fan and Alphonse had watched him over their respective meals and he'd sweated bullets as he picked at his own food. He watches Ed disappear around the corner and glances at the clock- four hours left. Lan Fan shoos him away.

“Edward!” He calls, and the teen turns around.

“Ling, hey!” He tips his head to the side. “What’s up?”

Now that Ling is here, he realizes he's got nothing prepared to say. For a second, Edward watches him with those gold, gold eyes and he can't breathe.

“Ed, I love you,” he says.

“What?” Ed stammers.

“What?” Ling faintly agrees. Ed must take this the wrong way, because the pink flush working its way up his neck becomes an angry blush.

“Wait, is this some kind of joke? You dick, I didn't think you'd be the type to-” he turns away, ready to stalk down the hallway.

“It's not!” Ling bursts, a little desperate. “A joke. I love you, Edward Elric.” Oh, foot, meet mouth.

Edward comes back, stands uncertain in front of him. The desperate confusion is an expression he's never seen on Edward, who is all fire and gold.

Ling takes a deep breath. “I love you.” The words taste like something new under his tongue.

 

He doesn't hate it.

 

Edward shifts his weight back and forth. “You've said that,” he mutters, face a fetching shade of pink. (Ling is sure his own face is a pink to match.) Ed takes a deep breath. “I love you, too.”

 

Ling grins, and Edward’s returning smile is all light.

 

* * *

Lan Fan has moved to sit next to Alphonse, and they both see the pair walking in at the same time. Lan Fan smiles at their hands, clasped tightly together, while Alphonse cheers loudly, much to Edward's embarrassment. They sit down across from the two.

“You'll visit me, right?” Ling asks Edward, quiet so that the others don't have to hear. “In Xing, that is.” Edward nods.

“Yeah, of course.” Ling leans into his shoulder, a reassuring pressure. “It'll take me a while to get there, 'cause I can't go across the desert, but… yeah, I'll visit you.” Ed bumps his side gently with his elbow. “And when I get there, I'm gonna make you pay me back for all those times I had to pay for your meals.”

Ling laughs and squeezes his hand.

 

(Edward kisses him just before he boards the eastbound train, and as they pull away from the station Ling can't help but to think that they'll be alright.)

**Author's Note:**

> leaving a comment will make my day!


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